Our Ethiopia project correspondent writes the terrible and heartbreaking tale of the situation in Ethiopia.

“This month’s famine has had a devastating affect upon the people of Ethiopia. They live off of their farms and when their fields grow nothing they grow starving. Their only asset is the land on which they farm, this is the only place that supplies the food they put in their mouths and if it doesn’t yield they don’t eat. A difficult concept for the Western mind to grasp, no food in the fridge we whip out the wallet and head for Wendy’s or McDonalds, here, no food means death.

I met a young woman named Getenesh, she lives in Humbo, Southern Ethiopia. She is chronically malnourished. She gave birth at the end of last month, March, she did not have any milk or food to feed her new born child, the baby lasted just a few days before dying earlier this month.

The sense of despair, depression and hopelessness was overwhelming.

We provided food and medicine to help her and her family (husband and two children) get through this difficult period.

The grave where their baby is buried behind their hut. Branches are placed over the grave to try prevent animals from digging up the remains.